Atlas Grove, once a dancer with dreams of dancing under the stars, now lives petrified in the shadows of abuse. To escape her living nightmare she must keep her head down and work hard, being her senior year this is her last chance to get out. Altho...
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I stare up at the dull cream ceiling, bits of mould making home in the corners of the room. My body aches and groans, pleading with me not to move, even the slightest fraction.
It's gotten slightly easier over the past week I've spent in bed. I told everyone at school I was sick again and avoided my parents at all costs. I don't know how much more my body can take. It whines, pain seeping in through the cracks in my bones. I just need it to stop.
It had gone on for hours, every time I'd regain consciousness again he'd be straight back to hurt me again. I wince thinking about the hazy recall of that night.
It was my fault, I shouldn't have gone to that stupid party and let myself fall asleep. I bought that on myself. I lied and I shouldn't have, I don't blame him for being mad. Any parent would be.
I lean slowly over to my side table, exhaling the sharp pain in my ribs. I pick up the book I was reading, the final book in the Flynn series by Sophie McKenzie. These books hold a special place In my heart, it was the first book I bought on my own. I'd just come first in a ballet competition and my mom took me down to a tiny bookstore we used to love, she gave me ten dollars and I bought that. It's the modern-day Romeo and Juliet, eat your heart out clichè romance.
I get lost in the series, an escape into another world where love is love and the rawness of it. I've re-read the series more times than I can count. The pages have a yellow hue to them, the spine is bent and damaged and there are small tears on some of the pages but the best thing is a small note my mom wrote in the back of the last book.
It was the last thing she's bought me, the last book in the series, her scrawny writing covers the bottom of the blank page.
'My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, the more I have for both are infinite'I love you, my little ballerina, look for your Romeo, someone who deserves you. One day you'll love him more than your need for me. Momma x
That could never be true, I'll always need you momma.
The books are based around the play Romeo and Juliet and I knew what my mom meant, she was telling me not to settle as she did, find someone who loves you to no end. Don't settle for what you think you deserve, settle for what you actually deserve.
I run my finger over the smudging ink, savouring the last piece of her.
My phone buzzes under my butt startling me slightly. I replace the bookmark and pull it out.
Blaze: I'm picking you up we're working on the project.
My palms grow sweaty as I read the message. Even though my bruises are healing and the cuts are hidden by clothing it's still pretty noticeable I'm hurt.
Me: Can't I'm sick, don't want you to come down with it.
